Familial and Familiar
by ethovoid
Summary: Lucas has a final showdown with the Masked Man, but something is wrong... (My retelling of the final battle and also my first published story on this site)


The timid boy and his comrades approached the last needle, and suddenly came to a halt. The other needle puller, the Masked Man, was sitting right in front of the needle! The young boy cautiously approached the man, but as soon as the boy took a step, the silent commander flung a concentrated burst of lightning directly at the boy and his friends. The electrical discharge found its targets and exploded, knocking the boy's party unconscious. The boy, however, stood up to his mysterious nemesis. His shiny badge deflected the wild energy right back to its metallic sender, showering them both with a brilliant storm of yellow sparks. The boy gripped his stick tightly, preparing to defend himself, but his head started to spin. The disoriented boy stumbled a bit before regaining his composure.  
"This man, he's so familiar..." The boy thought to himself as he gazed at the emotionless face hidden behind the mask.  
Suddenly, a sorrowful voice cried out, "Lucas, Claus... please... stop fighting...". The boy, named Lucas, recognized this voice. It was the voice of his own mother. Lucas wished that he could drop his weapon and negotiate with the Masked Man, but this wicked world had forced him to pull the last needle, and the heartless automaton stood in his way of doing so.

"N-no... it can't be! Dad has to be wrong! No way!" Lucas lied to himself as he doubted the identity of the Masked Man. Taking advantage of Lucas' clouded state, the commander charged a wave of PSI. An array of flashing hexagons caught Lucas by surprise, ripping him from his thoughts, but a figure leapt out to block the attack. The figure was Lucas' own father, Flint. "D-Dad! No!" Lucas cried out as he sprinted to his father.  
"C-Claus! Snap out of it, boy! I've been looking for you for such a long time, and now I've finally found you. Please, come home!" Flint sputtered as he winced from his wounds. There was barely any time to dodge as the man fired another round of deadly PSI at his own father, crushing Flint's ability to fight. Flint's dreams of bringing Claus home quickly turned into nightmares. With the battle's current state, Flint would only be able to bring home the corpse of one of his sons. Flint slipped into unconsciousness, succumbing from his critical wounds.

Lucas' heart beat faster than it had ever beat before. He didn't know if he was feeling anger, fear, or both. He tightly gripped his stick and formed a defensive pose as his sky-blue eyes locked with the soulless eyes of his long-lost brother. Lucas activated a Shield right as the commander launched towards Lucas, but the Masked Man wouldn't fall for such a cheap trick. He sprayed a Shield Killer on his sword and swung at Lucas' Shield, reducing it to a pile of flickering blue shards. The Masked Man then flip-kicked Lucas and used his jetpack wings to launch himself backwards, knocking Lucas away with the force of the thrusters. The Masked Man instantly flipped around in the air and charged straight for Lucas, with his glowing sword ready to strike. A blur of yellow smashed against Lucas' metallic stick, creating a loud clanging sound. Each twin held their ground, refusing to let the other one edge any closer.

"Claus… stop this… you and Lucas are brothers!" Hinawa's voice cried out. The insensate cyborg failed to acknowledge his own mother's voice. The Masked Man's left eye, hidden behind a visor, radiated with a yellow glint, and a jolt of lightning ran up Lucas' leg, causing him to stumble in surprise. This was it. The Masked Man would not fail Master Porky's final order. The stone-faced commander brought his sword down on top of Lucas with the intent to kill. Lucas tried to roll away, but the yellow blade plunged into Lucas' side. Lucas felt pain like he had never felt before. His vision started to fade in and out as a sharp pain exploded throughout his entire body. Lucas cried out in a bloodcurdling screech of pure agony, alerting everyone in his vicinity. For some reason, Lucas's screech froze the Masked Man in place. He started to sweat and his hands started to shake. Everything went dark. Suddenly, there was light.

* * *

The Masked Man was in a field of beautiful sunflowers, and an equally beautiful woman in a red dress stood in front of him with a soft expression on her youthful face. Why was this woman so familiar to him? He tried to push the brown-haired woman out of the way, but her hands latched onto his and pulled him into a hug.  
"Claus, don't be so stubborn!" The woman jokingly scolded with a cute smile. A few tears fell from her face as she removed her firstborn son's helmet, revealing his full face and head of hair. "Claus, do you remember me? I'm Hinawa, your mother!" She exclaimed as she stroked the Masked Man's hair. The commander had never felt warmth like this before. He could stay here all day, wrapped in his own mother's arms. Wait, his mother? The Masked Man had no mother. He was a cyborg created in a lab, according to Master Porky. The mute commander tried to reassure himself that this was just a glitch, but that lie was increasingly becoming harder to believe. "Claus… please don't hurt your sweet brother. You're supposed to protect him! That's what big brothers are for!" Hinawa boldly stated, sounding a bit like an accusation. The Masked Man wanted to apologize. Wait, what was he apologizing for? He had no siblings. And besides, the weak, like Lucas, should be left alone to fall prey to the strong ones like him. His head started to hurt, and his vision of Hinawa and the sunflower field started to disintegrate, leaving nothing but a black void in its wake. Somewhere, deep down in his soul, a youthful voice started to speak.  
"W-Why are you hurting Lucas, you monster?!" The voice squeaked. It was a manifestation of Claus.

"I am simply following Master Porky's orders, and that boy is stopping me from serving my duty," The Masked Man muttered in a raspy voice. He had not used his voice in years.  
"Why are you serving this Porky guy, anyways? He sounds like a big jerk if you ask me. Only the biggest meanie in the Nowhere Islands would want to hurt my little brother!" Claus shouted. The Masked Man had to bite his lip to keep himself from using some crude words he had picked up from the Pigmasks.

"I serve Master Porky because he gave me the gift of life, and I am forever in debt to him," The commander promptly stated.  
"Well I'm about to take that gift away if you don't stop hurting my little brother!" Claus roared. Claus materialized out of thin air and dashed towards the commander, who readied himself for combat. Claus launched into a tackle, and the Masked Man was ready to parry him, but his arms didn't connect with the orange-haired boy. Instead, the hot-headed kid shot past the commander's arms and phased into the Masked Man, disappearing from sight. What did he do?

The Masked Man was about to investigate, but a flash of light blinded him and brought him back into reality. He tried to adjust to his new surroundings, but a fiery fist socked him straight in the face, causing him to grunt in pain and fall backwards. The commander hurriedly scanned the premise for the woman he saw in his head earlier, but he had no luck. The only thing he saw was the pink-haired girl and a fully revitalized Lucas.

* * *

"That's whatcha get for beatin' up my friend, asshole! Now I'm gonna take you on a trip to the scrapyard, ya walkin' trash can!" The girl furiously spat. The Masked Man tried to rush the tomboy to electrocute her, but she was just too quick for him. She grabbed his hands and pulled him close, just like the woman in the red dress, but instead of giving him a hug, the girl gave him a ferocious backdrop after charging her arms with PK Thunder to stun him. The Masked Man had the air knocked out of him and laid on the ground, trying to recover from the pink-haired tomboy's unexpected move. What was happening to him? His movements were off and his combat was worse than it had been before the strange visions he had. That boy inside him… had he compromised the Masked Man? He shrugged it off and quickly shot up from the ground firing an intense bolt of lightning at the troublesome tomboy. She fell to the ground, unconscious once again. One PSI user down, one to go.

He focused his sights on Lucas, who held a betrayed expression that cut straight into the Masked Man's soul. This look, however, was replaced with a stone-faced expression. Was Lucas mocking him? The Masked Man became pissed off and flew straight for Lucas in an attempt to clobber him with his own fists. Wait a minute, when did he ever utilize his own fists instead of his trusty sword and arm cannon? It was already too late to switch his combat method, so he continued his assault on the blonde psychic with his fists. The speedy commander threw multiple punches at Lucas, who took the brunt of all the blows. Lucas spat out blood and rubbed his sore jaw, glaring at the Masked Man. Why was Lucas not defending himself?

That was when the now-hasty commander noticed the orange glow emanating from Lucas. He felt the pain of blow after blow from a pair of invisible fists, in the same exact spots where he had hit the blonde. He had fallen for Lucas' Counter. How could he have been so stupid?

"Lucas… stop… Claus is your brother!" Hinawa's voice sadly echoed. Lucas' angry eyes instantly turned into those of guilt, and tears started to form at the corners of his eyes. Suddenly, Lucas and the Masked Man felt a warm, tingling sensation in their heads. Their consciousness drifted to a memory of both twins in their cradles, while their proud parents, Flint and Hinawa, talked about the boys' future and how they would stick up for each other. For Lucas, the possibility of no future for his missing brother made his heart skip a beat. He couldn't doubt the Masked Man's identity anymore. The terror of fully knowing the identity of the commander of the Pigmask Army finally set in for Lucas and shook him to the core. Claus was behind the mask. It was Claus. It was his own brother, his own flesh and blood. Lucas started to loudly sob, and he fell down on the rocky ground, unable to find the strength to get back up. The cold-hearted commander raised his sword in preparation of an attack, but a blurry image of a familiar woman in a red dress blocked his path. Her soft gaze instantly convicted the commander. He couldn't bring himself to attack this woman because of an emotion he hadn't felt in 3 years. Guilt.

The voice of Hinawa called out again, "Claus... Claus... you must be so exhausted." The Masked Man started to shake, and he fell to his knees. Memories flooded his head as he screamed in pure terror. He was a bad boy. The boy named Claus acted out of revenge. The boy named Claus was nothing more than a tool. The boy named Claus betrayed his only family. The boy named Claus tried to end the world. The boy named Claus was a slave. The boy named Claus was inhuman. The boy named Claus. The boy named Claus. The boy named Claus. A splitting migraine only added to his screaming, and then everything became quiet.

The Masked Man removed his helmet. The commander of the entire Pigmask army was just a boy with a childish face... much like Lucas'. It was Claus. He looked at his brother's body, adorned with cuts, bruises, scrapes, and fresh blood. This was all Claus' fault.  
"C-Claus... i-is that you...?" Lucas hesitantly asked his brother. Claus silently sobbed and nodded his head in shame.  
"Lucas… I-I hurt you!" Claus guiltily wailed.

"Claus, I forgive you," Lucas gently spoke from his heart. His warm hands touched Claus' back as Lucas pulled him into a hug, just like how Mom did it. A raw wave of PK Love flowed from both twins, shredding Claus' commander outfit into a flurry of hexagons. Claus looked down, and sure enough, he was wearing his regular striped shirt, teal shoes, and orange shorts. Claus started to cry even harder.  
"Claus, p-please help me pull this needle and save the world. We could do it together, as a family! I'll even get dad, i-if it will help," Lucas stammered.

"L-Lucas. I'm an a-abomination without a h-heart. If I help pull the N-Needle, the world will c-c-cease to ex-," Claus tried to respond. Suddenly, the words got caught up in his mouth and his face grew white as he started to shake. Claus was starting to revert back to the Masked Man. Claus **had** to stop the emotionless commander from pulling that final needle.

"Claus? What's w-wrong?" Lucas worriedly asked. Claus couldn't respond.

"Claus, it's time for you to rest. You have a sickness right now, so you need to go to sleep early," Hinawa's voice sadly echoed. Claus tried to fight the Masked Man for control, but it was no use. The Masked Man regained control of his body and picked up his sword, with an emotionless look on his face and no mercy in his eyes.

"CLAUS, NO!" Lucas cried out. The Masked Man aimed his arm cannon at Lucas, planning to eliminate the final obstacle to his mission. The emotionless look quickly turned into one of intense concentration as the Masked Man lowered his arm cannon and raised his sword instead. It was Claus. He charged his most intense bolt of lightning, and combined it with PK Love. His lightning bolt rivaled that of Zeus'. Stray electricity from the charged sword was instantly attracted to Lucas' Franklin Badge. Lucas finally realized what Claus was trying to do, but it was too late. Claus brought down his sword, producing a bolt of lightning and a boom of thunder that instantly deafened and blinded everyone in the room. A clang could be heard as the bolt collided with the Franklin Badge, reflecting the deadly discharge to Claus.  
"NO!" Lucas sobbed. The lightning struck Claus with the force of a truck. He was thrown into the air, crashing into the ceiling and falling. Lucas cried and started running towards his brother. With the rest of his strength, Claus raised a hand, ruffling it through Lucas' blonde hair.  
"I'm sorry, Lucas. It should've never been like this. At least… at least we got to see each other for the grand finale. We will meet again someday... I'm sure of it..." Claus mumbled with his last breaths. Claus' breathing stopped. Lucas couldn't even cry. He stared at Claus' smoking body. Lucas had reached his breaking point. His jaw clenched and his knuckles whitened, and he started to shudder. His mother and brother were both taken from him by the same man. That one man could never die and would always taunt Lucas over it. Lucas felt pure hatred for the first time in his life. He dragged himself over to the Absolutely Safe Capsule that Porky was hiding in, and glared into the window. Porky stuck his tongue out and gave Lucas a raspberry and started to tease him until he noticed Lucas' glare. Even though Porky was absolutely safe from Lucas, he felt primal fear grab his heart. Lucas launched his strongest ever PK Love straight into the capsule, instantly launching it into the ceiling, much like how Claus was launched. The capsule smashed through the ceiling and went through almost half of the floors in his Empire Porky Building, before falling all the way back down with the rubble from his collapsing tower. The capsule fell into the abyss of the Needle Mines, never to be seen again. Porky would spend eternity in absolute darkness. Feeling satisfied, Lucas walked back over to the place where Claus had fallen and kneeled by his body alongside Flint, Boney, Duster, and Kumatora. All of them shared tears and reflected on their journey before it was time to pull the final Needle.

"Lucas. Claus sacrificed himself so that you could be the one to pull the Needle and save the world. I believe in you, son. Hinawa and I are very proud of you," Flint spoke through his bittersweet tears of joy and sorrow.

"Lucas, if anyone can pull this Needle, it has to be you. Life can be a real pain in the ass, but you've lived through its wrath and survived. Go get 'em, kid," Kumatora cheered.

"Your destiny is coming to a close, Lucas. I know it sounds kind of stressful, but it can only mean good for the world. You will be the saviour of this world, and you will always have my support," Duster solemnly explained.

Boney trotted up to Lucas and tried to lick him on the face. Lucas giggled and rubbed Boney's fur. "T-Thanks…" Lucas sheepishly replied. He walked up to the Needle, grabbed it by the handle, and wished for a multitude of things. His heart was passed on to the Dark Dragon, and Lucas slipped into unconsciousness.


End file.
